Hair fashioning implement



July 26, 1966 D. M. SHEEHAN 3,262,459

HAIR FASHIONING IMPLEMENT Filed Sept. 12, 1965 INVENTOR DENNIS M. SHEEHAN BY E Z HIS A ORNEY United States Patent 3,262,459 HAIR FASHIONING IMPLEMENT Dennis M. Sheehan, 1021 Riverton St., North Brunswick, NJ. Filed Sept. 12, 1963, Ser. No. 308,574 1 Claim. (Cl. 132-9) The present invention relates generally to devices for grooming the hair and pertains more specifically to an implement devised to fashion womens hair into any one of a variety of hair styles.

Currently, many hair styles for women are -enjoying a great deal of popularity. These hair styles often require a variety of operations in order to fashion the hair into the desired arrangement. One such operation is known as teasing and consists of vigorously combing or brushing portions of the hair in a direction opposite to that in which the hair naturally grows in order to attain an expanded or puffed-up effect in the particular style. Because of the nature of the operation and the implements available for its performance, teasing has been known to damage the hair by tearing or breaking individual hair filaments to the detriment of the hair in general.

I have developed an implement which may be employed in teasing as well as other operations in fashioning hair into a desired style with a minimum of damage to the hair filaments. The operation of the implement relies to a large extent upon my discovery that the surface properties of foamed plastics of the flexible variety are such that these materials may 'be successfully employed in manipulating the hair in an effective, yet gentle manner.

An important object of the invention is to provide an implement for fashioning hair into a desired style with a minimum of damage to the hair filaments.

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ment while the inherent resiliency of the material will assure that such manipulations of the hair filaments are carried out; gently and with a minimum of damage to the hair. Whereas ordinary combs and brushes rely upon the engagement of relatively stiff teeth or bristles with the hair filaments to work the hair into a desired arrangement, the member 12 employs the gentle interaction of Another object of the invention is to provide an implement capable of easy manipulation to effectively fashion hair into a variety of styles.

A further object of the invention is to provide an implement for fashioning hair into a desired style, which implement is relatively simple in design and construction and easily fabricated of relatively inexpensive materials.

Briefly, the invention may be described as the employment of a flexible foamed iplastic member providing a resilient hair-engaging surface in an implement for fashioning hair into a desired style. Means are fixed to the member tfOl' facilitating manipulation of the member during fashioning operations. 7

The invention will be understood more fully and further objects and advantages will become apparent in the following detailed description of an embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an implement constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the implement of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 2.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to FIGURE 1, an implement 10 is shown constructed iii-accordance with the invention and has a member 12 fixed to a handle 14 which provides means for manipulating the member 12 through operations employed in fashioning hair into a variety of desired styles. The member 12 has a hairengaging surface 16 and is fabricated of a foamed plastic of the flexible variety, such as for example, a urethane foam. I have found-that such a material possesses surface properties which will serve to actively engage the hair filaments and direct these filaments into a desired arrangethe resilient surface 16 with the hair filaments to achieve improved results in ease of operation as well as in delicate handling of the vulnerable filaments.

In order to enhance the action of surface 16 of member .sures that the protuberances will not damage the hair filaments with which the protuberances come into contact. Surface 20, which is relatively smooth in comparison to surface 16 may be employed for smoothing the hair filaments down as necessary during the hair fashioning operations.

An important feature of the invention is the way in which the resilient member 12 is reinforced with rigid means to preclude unwanted flexing of the member without affecting the desired resilience of surface 16. As best seen in FIGURES 2 through 4, member 12 is tubular in form and a rigid rod 22 is received within the tubular member 12 and lies along the entire length thereof to reinforce the tubular member 12 against unwanted flexing during utilization of the implement. Handle 14 is integral with rod 22 and serves as a convenient means for manipulating member 12 during fashioning operations. A taper 24 is provided to serve as a further hair manipulating means in a manner now well known in the art. Rod 22 may be fabricated of a variety of relatively rigid materials and is shown formed of a rigid synthetic resin. It is apparent that without reinforcing rod 22, member 12 wouldbe limply flexible and thus much more difficult to use in placing hair in a desired arrangement.

The member 12 and rod 22 are easily assembled by merely slipping the rod into the tubular member. In order to secure member 12 in place upon rod 22, barbs 26 are provided integral with the rod and engage the member 12 to prevent the member from slipping off the rod as the implement is manipulated. It is noted that barbs 26 may proceed through the member 12 from right to left as seen in FIGURE 2 by virtue of sharp edges 28, but not in the reverse direction. Since most of the forces exerted upon member 12 during use of the implement tend to either rotate member 12 upon rod 22 or pull the member to the left with respect to the rod, barbs 26 will preclude such movement. However, during assembly of the implement, member 12 is easily slipped to the right along rod 22. When it becomes necessary to replace member 12 after the member has outlived its usefulness, member 12 and rod 22 are merely disassembled by slippling member 12 to the right with respect to rod 22 until the elements are separated.

The fabrication of member 12 is relatively inexpensive and well suited to manufacture in large numbers of uniform quality. The tubular form may be evolved in relatively long lengths which are then cut to the required dimensions. Protuberances 18 can be formed by merely cutting grooves 30 into a portion of the periphery of member 12 at surface 16 in a desired pattern.

Thus, it will be seen that implement 10 provides a simple and effective means for gently fashioning hair into any desired style with a minimum of damage to the hair filaments.

It is to be understood that the above detailed description of an embodiment of the invention is provided by laterally from one another along a substantial portion of the perimeter of the cross-sectional configuration and a series of lateral grooves in said member spaced longitudinally from one another and intersecting the longitudinal grooves to establish a plurality of protuberances providing a relatively coarse, resilient hair-engaging surface, each protuberance being flexible and having a resilient surface by virtue of the flexible nature of the foamed plastic tubular member;

a relatively smooth hair-smoothing surface extending along a substantial portion of the cylindrical surface beyond the relatively coarse surface;

rigid rod received longitudinally within the tubular member to reinforce the member and preclude unwanted flexing of the member along the length thereof without affecting the desired resilience of the cylindrical surface; and

a handle fixed to the rod and extending longitudinally beyond the tubular member for facilitating manipulation of the member during fashioning operations.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,924,337 8/1933 Troupa 15188 XR 2,705,499 4/1955 Breeze 132-109 2,785,688 3/1957 Chester. 3,188,675 6/1965 Beck 15244 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,115,137 12/1955 France. 1,140,644 3/1957 France. 1,168,829 9/1958 France.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

L. W. TRAPP, Assistant Examiner. 

